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New York City and Cape Town Join Forces to Promote Tourism

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August 24, 2017

NYC & Co., New York City's official destination marketing organization, has joined forces with Cape Town Tourism, signing their first-ever city-to-city partnership to boost tourism between the two destinations.

"Today, we are proud to sign a first-ever partnership with Cape Town, one of the world's most iconic and beautiful cities," said Fred Dixon, president and CEO of NYC & Co. "New York City and Cape Town share a lot in common as capital cities of culture, cuisine, and design, and we look forward to cultivating this productive tourism relationship in the year ahead."

Both Dixon and Cape Town Tourism's CEO Enver Duminy were on hand to sign the agreement in New York City.

"This announcement has been years in the making, but at the outset it was clear that New York is the ideal city for collaboration with Cape Town," said Duminy. "We're greatly encouraged by this tourism twinning agreement, after all, a city with a global reputation for world-class tourism is acknowledging that we have just as much value to offer the global traveler. We look forward to this partnership and to sharing the benefits with our communities."

The two-year alliance will entail the two DMOs sharing best practices in tourism marketing and the exchange of marketing assets to boost reciprocal travel.

This "twinning" agreement also includes a swap of marketing and advertising set to be activated in early 2018. In New York City, advertisements will appear on bus-stop shelters and LinkNYC kiosks to promote Cape Town, creating an estimated 17.6 million in media impressions. In Cape Town, an equivalent value of New York City advertisements will be featured through digital and out-of-home media, with specifics to be determined.

South Africa is the largest origin market from the continent for those traveling to New York City, accounting for nearly 50,000 visitors in 2015. South Africa represents a nearly 30 percent share of African visitors to New York City. The United States is currently Cape Town's second largest international source market. In 2015, 30 percent of arrivals to Cape Town from the U.S. originated at or traveled via New York City airports.